We recently added a Create Race API for a technology partner / OEM. We are not making this publicly available at this time, but it is something that may be useful for some advanced technology partners. It also represents the first step in putting an API wrapper around the Race Director and Partner side of RunSignUp, like we have done for the runner side of RunSignUp.

Again, this will be relatively limited in terms of use cases, but if you think you have a need and have the technological capabilities let us know. We would love to talk.

We will put the documentation here for public view and comment:

Create Race

Create a simple race. The race must have a name, URL string, city, and country/state. The URL string is a custom string that will be used in the URL for the race. An error will be returned if this is not unique. You must specify at least one event for the race. Refer to the Datatypes for details on the date format and possible values for event_type.

We have launched an enhanced Technology Partner Program. We have over a dozen applications that integrate with RunSignUp via our Open API. This new set of capabilities provides race directors and timers an even more integrated approach to using RunSignUp technology with their technology of choice. Our goal is to allow our customers to select best of breed solutions and have them work together seamlessly.

We are providing three new integration points:

Race Director Dashboard Add-On – this allows a Race Director or Timer to add a Tech Partner’s solution to their race and configure custom parameters.

Runner Registration Path Add-On – this allows the Tech Partner to add a new page to the registration process so that a runner can provide any needed information or authorization. This also becomes visible in the Tabs in the Race Webpage RunSignUp creates for each race.

Payment Integration – this allows the Tech Partner to price their service either as an addition to the base Processing fee that RunSignUp charges or to price their service on a add-on basis.

Configuration
RunSignUp will work with each technology partner to configure the integration. The page on the right is the admin page we use to configure each technology partner. Note that we provide mechanisms for determining your preferences and how it will display to the user. The configuration contains several key areas:

Basic information that will display to race directors and timers in the RunSignUp Race Dashboard.

Basic configuration lets you determine what will be seen in the registration form by the runner.

iFrame popup – this configures the iframe pop-up that your app will display during a runner’s registration.

Webhook – The Tech Partner can add a URL where information about each registration will be sent. This information will include the unique ID the tech partner sets for the registration if applicable. It will also include the registration IDs, user IDs, and event IDs for the registration.

Payment Options
Part of the webhook allows for pricing information to be set. RunSignUp will either add this to the processing fee or as a separate add-on. This gives the tech partner flexibility in pricing – so they can charge on a per transaction basis, a per registrant basis or on their own pricing menu of items the registrant has selected, such as a photo package or notifications.

Note that RunSignUp will not take any of the Tech Partner revenue (unlike the Apple store). There are two reasons. First, to encourage tech partners to integrate with us and provide great solutions to our combined customers. Second, we want to remain neutral. For example, we hope to have at least 4 options for Results posting and Notification tightly integrated with RunSignUp. We want customers to make the choice of what is best and not be influenced by us in any way.

iFrame Flexibility
We provide a very simple and powerful way for tech partners to insert their own UI into the registration process. In this example on the right you can see 3 different iFrames inserted into a Tab. Note that we can customize the Tabs in the Race Page.

In summary, we are providing a powerful way for our tech partners to make their offerings available to the fast growing RunSignUp community. And more importantly, we are making the lives of race directors, timers and runners better with well integrated, best of breed, open solutions.

Please contact us if you want to be part of the beta or want more information.

This is for advanced users who want to integrate an existing (or new) application with our Club API. The main purpose is for an application to sync data associated with members of a club with the external application. We are currently working with a club who uses a training application that needs to sync with members who have access to the training program that they signed up for in RunSignUp and pull over data that was collected during the joining process in Custom Questions.

This is something you’ll probably do once after you have the club set up or after you make changes down the line. It will let you get the ids you need to do mappings to values on your application side.

You should call https://runsignup.com/rest/club/:club_id replacing :club_id with your club id (e.g. 242). You should make this call by setting api_key and api_secret to your partner API key. You probably will want to use some of the include_* parameters to get the information you want.

You should call https://runsignup.com/rest/club/:club_id/members replacing :club_id with your club id (e.g. 242). To include question responses, add include_questions=T. You should make this call by setting api_key and api_secret to your partner API key.

(Geek alert!) We have just released an extension to our Open API to include Club Membership access. This gives other software providers as well as advanced customers access to Club Membership information from their application.

For example, another registration provider could now offer a similar capability to our discount to club members. While some might find this crazy, we think things work best when they are open.

Another example might be giving access to Club Member information for a training program. In fact, an advanced customer is using the API for that. Their training program checks RunSignUp to see what level of membership they have. It also pulls over details asked during the membership joining process such as estimated 5K times, running experience, target race that are given to runners as they sign up for membership in a training program.

You can see the new API at the bottom of the API Methods page. This is “active documentation”, so you can actually try the API’s after you click on the method you are interested in. For example the Club Information method.

There are lots of potential use cases for this. Let us know if you think you have one and need some help.

This allows our technology partners to make more transparent syncing between their application and RunSignUp.

This works by creating a brand new registration for the registrant and removing the old registrant, so a new registration id is generated. Also, only the basic information is copied over to the new registration. Things like shirt sizes, question responses, team names, etc. are not copied.

This iPhone App is NOT for general use. It only connects to the test.runsignup.com server – not the production server. It is meant to help our technology partners and customers develop their own mobile apps. We provide all source code for you to re-use on an unlimited way. It is also a very useful demonstration of the API that allows anyone to create their own mobile app or web app to do registration and other services like race listings and user profile management themselves.

We expect this will be used by a couple of technology partners over the coming months to bring broader solutions to the market. We think that large races and race management companies are looking at creating their own mobile apps and branding them for their races. These apps help with things like finding accommodations, race maps, runner notification, and results. These races can now integrate registration right into their app.

And yes, the sample app has a picture of our own Jordan Desilets from a Steeplechase race from several years ago (before he became a marathoner – wish him luck at Chicago!)